Dealing with the Deficit

The Obama administration did a brave thing, always a refreshing move for any administration. It issued a budget that had some resemblance to reality. That was the good news. The bad news is that our reality is bleak. The government foresees budget deficits for the...

Is Our Democracy Becoming a Joke?

This article was originally published in Common Dreams on 2/11/10. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce held a dramatic press conference in October. The group promised to stop lobbying against pending climate legislation, and pledged to help make it even stronger. A few...

Wall Street Gets It

I don’t know why people, even smart people, keep saying that bankers and the rest of the Wall Street crowd don’t get it. Dana Milbank, writing in The Washington Post, said it just the other week after Lloyd Blankfein, the Goldman Sachs chairman, testified...
Seeing China from the New World Trade Center

Seeing China from the New World Trade Center

You can knock us Americans down, but you can’t keep us down. For example, the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York City were crashed to the ground on 9/11. But now, a new tower is rising from those very ashes—a soaring steel and glass monument...

Record Bank Profits and the American Dream Foreclosed

JP Morgan Chase launched the 2010 Wall Street Bonus Sweepstakes last month. The bank is still losing money on consumer services, but well-heeled investors and financial traders more than made up the difference. The bank announced $11.7 billion in profits and $26.9...